Five Senses
by TakeSomethingLiterally
Summary: Toph wants to know something, and Sokka does his best to explain it to her. A Tokka Oneshot.


**DISCLAIMER: ****I don't own A:TLA**_**. **_**If I did, Suki would have NEVER come back and Azula would be RULING DA WORLD! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

…**No, but really, Suki would be gone FOH GOOD.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"…Toph? Are you ok?"

This sentence made the earthbender's heart skip a beat. She turned around to face the person behind her.

"Geez Sokka, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"_Sneak up_ on you?" The warrior frowned, now even more worried than before. "You mean you didn't feel me coming?"

Toph's heart skipped another beat. She hasn't even realized that. But then again, maybe it was because she was lost on her thoughts for too long that night.

"…Not this time, no." Answered her shrugging and then turning back to the city below her. Toph was seated on the house's wooden balcony, just feeling the night's cool breeze brush through her face and make her black locks shiver. It was a particular hot night on Ba Sing Se, and Toph loved the city's different smells and sounds at that period of the day.

That's when she felt someone sitting right beside her, also breathing deeply. Toph turned her head to face Sokka once again.

"But why did you ask if I was okay, anyway?"

"Oh… I don't know, you seemed kind of… Off, today." Answered him. And smirking, he added, "Also, you almost didn't tease me for the past two hours, so I figured something wasn't right."

That made Toph smile a bit.

"Maybe I was just tired, Snoozles. Why, did you miss my teasing?"

"Maybe…" Chuckled Sokka. That answer surprised Toph, but she didn't say anything else. The two of them remained like that for almost thirty minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Someone was enjoying it more than the other, though. That's what Toph imagined, anyway.

When the silence was starting to lose its nice feeling, Toph finally opened her mouth.

"…Hey, Sokka?"

"Yes?" Said the warrior, still looking at the moon.

"…Can you explain me something?"

That question made Sokka's ego wake up.

"Oh, of course! What's your doubt? Is it about some battle movements? Or maybe about army formation? Well, whatever the case may be, leave it to the Great Master Sokka over here!"

Toph rolled her pale-green eyes and punched him on the arm.

"Ouch!"

"Just shut up and listen, pony-tail boy."

"Alright, alright. What is it?"

Toph took a moment to put her thoughts in order. She shifted, hugging her knees and resting her head on them.

"Can you explain to me each one of the five senses?"

Sokka blinked. The earthbender looked so… Fragile, all of a sudden. He couldn't remember a single time where he'd seen Toph lose her tough attitude near him. Maybe that had something to do with whatever was upsetting her?

"Sure. From which one you want me to start from?" He finally answered.

Toph turned to him with wide open eyes. She didn't think he would actually take her question seriously. She could feel a small blush on her cheeks, and frowning, the girl turned away again, hoping Sokka didn't catch that.

"A-Anyone you want. As long as it makes sense…"

Sokka put a thoughtful finger on his chin. After a while, he nodded.

"Alright. I'll start by the hearing."

Toph only nodded.

"Hearing is like… Seeing with your eyes closed. You can perceive where everything is just by listening to the environment." He reached for Toph's ears and, despite Toph's first startle, he continued. "The ears are two, just like the eyes. That's because seeing and hearing are connected to each other. You need to listen to understand exactly what's going on. Your sigh will be useless without your audition."

Toph's mouth hung open for a bit, until she felt Sokka's hands slipping away. She then blinked.

"I-I see."

"Now the taste. Tasting something delicious just opens a whole new world for you." Once again, Sokka reached for Toph's soft features. She could feel his fingers brush on her lips softly. "It's the best sensation in the world. Once you taste a little of our favorite food, you'll always want more of it. It's natural."

Toph couldn't suppress a smirk. "Is that your excuse for eating so much, meat guy?"

"Hey, want me to continue or not?"

"Sure, sure. Go on, oh, Schedule Master."

"Thanks. As I was saying." Sokka cleaned his throat. "The taste and the smell are also connected to each other. Every time you smell something, the taste starts acting as well. You can feel it both in your nostrils and in your mouth; the sweet flavor of your favorite food being cooked. You don't even need to see it to realize what is being prepared. You can know automatically what will be good for you, and what won't be."

Toph's cheeks reddened again, after Sokka brushed his index finger teasingly on her nose. She rubbed it.

"You didn't need to do that!"

She could hear his laughter feeling the air.

_Hear._

"Well, I need some kind of way to make you understand better!"

"Yeah, whatever… Just keep going." She said, also smiling. Sokka cleaned his throat again.

"The touch. One of the most important senses!" Sokka grabbed Toph's right hand and started to squeeze each one of her fingers carefully. "Without the touch, you couldn't be called human. You wouldn't feel pain, or tickling… It would be really boring, not being able to actually _feel_ anything. Like this breeze right now."

Even though that wasn't necessary, Toph closed her eyes to feel it. The wind was still brushing through her hair. But now it felt much better than a few moments ago.

"You can recognize lots of things only with your touch. Like, of what each object is made of, or what kind of strength you need to use to press certain things. Without the touch, I doubt you'd be able to walk around like you do, Toph. You can only do that because you _feel _the vibrations on the earth. With your feet!"

And without warning, Sokka started tickling Toph's feet, which made the blind girl fall on her backs, giggling like crazy.

"S-stop it! Hahahah! I'm n-not kiddin—Hahaha! Cut it out, Sokka!" She tried to push him away from her, but her laughter made it impossible. After some more moments of tickling, Sokka stopped. Both of them were still laughing.

"See? Wouldn't it be boring if you couldn't feel that?" Asked Sokka. That only made him get a punch on him arm once again. But this time stronger.

"Don't you _ever _touch my feet again. Unless you want to _feel _more pain."

"Alright, alright, I was just demonstrating!" Replied him, rubbing his arm. Toph tried to get rid of her smile by coming back to the position she was before.

"Continue." Demanded her. Sokka sighed, but didn't say anything for a while. Toph turned to him, puzzled. "What did you stop? There's still one more sense to go."

"Well… That's true, but… It's not a really important one. Actually, I'd say it's the least important of the five senses."

The earthbender was in shock.

"What? What do you mean the least important? It's the _most _important of them!"

"What, the vision? You really think so?" Asked Sokka, seeming truly confused. Toph gasped.

"Of course! Without the vision you can't… You're not able to…" She tried to find words for it, but she knew she couldn't.

Toph was blind. She had never experienced the sigh. Ever since she was born, everything she had ever experienced never involved colors, images or shapes. She couldn't even try to guess what each one of those things was. Not even imagine it.

"You see… With the vision you can have a notion of where exactly everything is. You can paint and write and imagine shapes and forms that never existed. You can see beautiful landscapes and keep them in your mind for as long as you're capable of remembering." Said Sokka, looking over at the moon.

"But at the same time," Continued him after a while. "you see things that you wish you'd never seen. Because of the world's most different happenings, you can't help but to imagine horrible situations around you. And that's the biggest disadvantage of the vision, Toph. When you don't want to remember scenes that happened long ago, but you can't stop it from coming back at your mind, playing it over and over again."

Sokka and Toph turned to each other at the same time. She couldn't believe what he was saying. Seeing? A disadvantage?

"But… If you can't see, how can you…"

"You can hear. And smell. And taste and feel. You don't need to actually see to understand the world around you. You, Toph, are the most special person in the world. Because your senses altogether surpass the one sense you don't have. So…" Sokka realized this was getting too cheesy and maybe he was going too far as to explaining her something as simple as the five senses. "…So you don't need to feel down because you can't see. You see? I-I mean… Got it?"

Rubbing his neck, Sokka, tried to think up a joke, but nothing came to mind. Toph's silence wasn't helping either.

"…Toph? Did I went too fa—" But before he could finish, he felt her body hugging his tightly. He could hear her heartbeat. He could feel her small arms around him. He could smell and taste the night's sweet odor.

And he definitely didn't see that coming.

Without much of a choice, Sokka embraced her back. She wasn't crying. Neither was she laughing. She was just… There. Hugging him. Maybe as a way of saying 'thank you', but he would never know.

After a couple of moments, Toph let go. Without a word, she punched his arm, for the third time that night.

"Ouch! You know, you really need to make up your mind on certain things!" Complained Sokka. Toph giggled.

"The hug was for the explanation. And the punch was for you to remember to never tell that to anyone." And with that, she simple got up and went inside. But before closing the door, she stopped and turned around.

"…Thanks, Sokka. I'm feeling better now."

And the door was closed.

Sokka stood there, looking at the spot where Toph had been standing just seconds ago, and allowed himself a smile.

"You're welcome, Toph."

* * *

**So... Yeah. I know that after reading this it'll be hard to believe me, but I'm in the middle of an author's block right now. I KNOW RIGHT?**

**Haha, but I really hope you liked it. Honestly, I don't even know how I came up with this. The ideas just flowed. I know, it's kind of done already, Toph and the senses, but... C'mon! It's a really nice topic for her. So here it is!**

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are nice! And so are cookies!**

**- TSL**


End file.
